


i'll be the sun, you be the sea

by fractalsin



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: :"D, Established Relationship, M/M, a kikuro study in three acts, again from the uniqlo shirt, bittersweet at best, raging inspiration from a uniqlo shirt, strange sun and sea metaphor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-10
Updated: 2018-11-10
Packaged: 2019-08-21 12:16:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16576310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fractalsin/pseuds/fractalsin
Summary: In which Kuroko has a literal heart-stopping disease and Kise has always stopped him from drowning in his remorse.Also: In which Kise and Kuroko find happiness in each other, and all that awaits them.





	i'll be the sun, you be the sea

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: hello knb fandom, trash has returned //slapped  
> This was something I wrote in between homework and research and all the other sad stuff students have to go through. Last year of high school for me, so entrance exams have taken up most of my time. I swear I’ll return for the summer though. That’s not to say I won’t be writing fic while school is ongoing, but I can definitely write more when summer comes. :”D HnggggGGGG  
> First kikuro fic and the thing literally sprang out of a uniqlo shirt.  
> The title came from a uniqlo t-shirt that I own (you might own it too xD it's yellow), and every time I would wear it, I always imagined kikuro situations that started out as funny but then eventually became this fic.  
> 11/13/18: Some edits made, with a few additional phrases here and there. :")

On the sidewalks of the Port-Neuf, couples were holding hands together. Their attire spoke for them, coats to ward off chills from the night breeze near the river Seine. Some were natives, while some were tourists just like Kise and Kuroko were. Unanimously, they had come to see the river Seine become a sea of stars, and perhaps, have a lovely night under the watchful eye of the Parisian moon, which swooned at the sight of lovers.

“Kurokocchi, look!”

Kise was pointing to a place that sold roses. There were countless vases and bouquets of them, roses that were of the most common varieties yet were in full spring bloom. They came in all manners of red and pink, yellow and white.         

Kise was gone before Kuroko could stop him. It was no surprise to Kuroko that Kise was passable in French – for the extra language elective back in college, Kise had chosen French. Kuroko could envision Kise living in France, amidst high skylines and even higher dreams, because like Paris, Kise dazzled and could melt the most fragile hearts with a smile.

The lady who sold the roses gave him a red rose and laughed when he clenched the stem between his teeth and engaged in theatrics, bowing like a showman.

Paris was for their first wedding anniversary, undoubtedly a homage to their honeymoon. Kise bought lilies of the valley, almost similar to the bouquet that Kuroko had held on their wedding day a while back. They’d chosen Paris for the architecture too; it was here that Kise admitted one of his fantasies as a child.

“I always envisioned myself making a palace for someone.”

But they didn’t need palaces or anything like that. Kise shook his head. He would build one, if he could. But he couldn't. Not really.

"Palaces are impractical."

“And a pain to clean,” Kise laughed, agreeing. “There are finer things.”

It was also in that very same year that Kise revealed their new home to Kuroko as a surprise, one of his very own creations. The insides were left bare, a large canvas for Kuroko to work his wonders on. The memories would keep gathering, more and more of them with each passing day.        

* * *

 

It was a normal shirt, the sort that you wouldn’t wear outdoors but could comfortably slip into after a tiring day’s work. In this case, after a long flight.   

Kise came out of the shower dressed in it, a white towel perched atop his head. He positioned himself beside Kuroko, who was lying comfortably on the bed they shared every evening. His eyes were no longer on the book that he was reading and were now fixed directly towards Kise, who wrapped his arms around his waist, resting his chin on Kuroko’s left shoulder.

Kuroko stowed the book away into the side drawer and turned to face Kise. Absently, he curled his fingers into the gaps between Kise’s own, feeling a rush of warmth from them. His breathing steadied, and when Kise asked if he was tired, he shook his head.

“My body’s telling me to sleep, but my mind isn’t.”

“Then Kurokocchi has a wicked mind.” Kise hoisted himself up, and Kuroko joined him. Sitting side by side, leaning against the headboard of the bed, Kise looked at his shirt and couldn’t seem to refrain himself from smiling. “This shirt is five years old now, I think.”

It was as closest as they could get to a real child, Kuroko surmised, with the way Kise spoke about it. He could vividly remember Kise taking a liking to it immediately, and his voice every time he read the words written on the shirt out loud.

Tonight, however, was different.

“It’s a promise.” Kise whispered against his ear, so different from the way he always boldly declared it, “I’ll be the sun, you be the sea.” Kuroko had it etched into memory, the way it seemed to go with Kise’s voice. Silently, he told himself, _the sea cannot dream to reach the sun._

_Too close, and it will burn._

“Kise-kun can be whatever he wants to be.” Kuroko slipped his hand into Kise’s shirt, his other hand moving to caress Kise’s cheek with an almost feather-like touch. Kise met Kuroko’s hand halfway, and he leaned into it, breathing through his nose. Quietly, he cradled Kuroko’s head and pressed their lips together. Kuroko pried open for him, and Kise relished in the small pleasurable sounds that came from the smaller boy’s throat when he deepened the kiss, caving in. He held on to Kuroko’s shoulders like they were the pillars of the world.  

The ambrosia of the gods might have been made of pleasure, Kise told himself vehemently, convincingly, as Kuroko tugged at his shirt and reminded him of finer things.

Self-restraint suited Kuroko Tetsuya, but Kise welcomed his touch, and soon, tested waters became familiar. They became home.

* * *

 

The hospital walls were tinted with a pale, bluish hue – to Kuroko, they had always been closer to white than blue. His lips, whenever his breath would catch and he would struggle for air that eluded him and left him clutching at his heart, his heart that had failed him so many times yet did not falter and kept on holding on just enough – _they_ were closer to blue, glass panes reflecting only a pale ghost in his wake.

His heart had done one thing right. As he felt the metal supporting his back, he heard an all too familiar voice telling him that he wasn’t alone, that everything was going to be okay. He held onto the pair of shoulders in front of him, filling his senses with the scent of cologne and feeling his pacemaker do the trick within his chest, his pulse slowing gradually.

It happened less and less ever since the prescribed medications, but there were times like this too. He’d started off with apologies, revealing his weakness and telling Kise that he shouldn’t have to see this, that he felt shame. Kise profusely refused to hear anything of the sort.

So instead, he began to thank him.  He had never stopped thanking Kise since then, never forgot to, and Kise would lend him strength, all the strength he needed.

He’d chosen Kise, and this was something he never came to regret. His faith in Kise could fill the sky if it wanted to.

* * *

 

In the palace of his mind, Kise relived the day he first took active notice of Kuroko Tetsuya.

Kuroko had been sitting on one of the benches in their university’s sprawling lawns, bent over a sketchbook with a focused furrow on his brow as he sketched away, his surroundings deeming him a lost cause. There seemed to be a bubble around where he sat, as if protecting him from any outside influence or any person who wished to join him – all of this without him actually trying to keep such a distance between him and the world.

Kise, who had sometimes let such details about his schoolmates slip by, could only fathom at the time how many people had attempted to claim the spot as their own only to be told by Kuroko that it was already taken. He could imagine them never trying to ask again, instead making a mental note about the perpetual presence of the boy with such a weak presence about his being.

There wasn’t anything special about him at first glance, though Kise, as was his habit, liked to find beauty in things, and this he did find in Kuroko Tetsuya, whose eyes burned with such an intensity that he could almost envision himself drowning in them. Perhaps what appealed even more to Kise was the idea of respite that surrounded Kuroko, a certain quiet that Kise craved to have in his own life and found a glaring absence of.

The arts and design student body wasn’t large as opposed to the natural sciences and the social sciences, but it became clear that despite the fact that they might have encountered each other numerous times before, Kuroko was just one of many distant faces. Before Kise knew it, they had bridged the gap bit by bit, through thick and thin, through coffee dates and silk nights – Kise stayed because it was worth it.

“You didn’t leave.” Kuroko said within a heartbeat, fast and struggling. He heaved a breath, “Even when I told you that you could.”   

“That wasn’t what you wanted, Kurokocchi.” Kise had whispered, with all the affection rendering his voice raw with longing, but above all, certainty. "Not at all.”

He held on, because Kise was the type of person who believed that he could hold water for a long time if he just held onto it tightly enough. Kise felt the water’s embrace, and he held on just as tightly because this was something they both wanted. This time, the water didn't slip through his fingers - it shaped something of their own.

“You will never lose me.” Kuroko whispered fervently.

And Kise had agreed that it was the same way for him too, because the sun was never far from the sea.

* * *

 

And after all this time, nothing had changed about that.

“Everyone’s going to be younger than me.” The child in front of them visibly wilted. Kuroko found it odd – it reminded him too much of Kise. There was no doubt, however, that the child’s eyes were more similar to Kuroko’s, a clear, blue hue against the black mop of hair.   

“You know it’s going to be okay, Koushi. There were lots of kids younger than you too back in the orphanage, weren’t there?”

Koushi held onto the sides of his uniform, pulling down, “This and that are different...”

Kuroko knelt down to stay at eye-level with Koushi, clasping his hand encouragingly. “It’s going to be alright, Koushi-kun. You just have to be yourself, and they’ll love you for it.”

“But they’re not like you,” Koushi said pointedly at the both of them.   

“That’s not necessarily a bad thing, you know. Tetsuyacchi and I aren’t very similar either, but we get along just fine."

“Not similar at all,” Kuroko intoned, sounding very solemn. Kise winced.

“Tetsuyacchi, you don’t have to put it that way.”

“I’m not putting it in any way at all, really.” Kuroko smiled faintly, and when he saw the crocodile tears that started to brim through Kise’s eyes as he exclaimed _“I know I’m not the best singer, okay! And I know my underwear aren’t organized either-“_ to which Kuroko couldn’t keep himself from laughing endearingly, even more so when Kise flushed after seeing his laugh. Koushi watched this exchange between his parents with interest.

“I didn’t say anything, Ryouta-kun.”      

Kise coughed, as if to make a point. “In any case, what Tetsuyacchi is trying to say is that if your Uncle Midorima can make friends, then you can too!”

“Ohhh!” Koushi beamed, “ _That_ makes sense.”

“I’m telling the both of you on Midorima-kun.”

“Please don’t, Tetsuyacchi. I don’t wanna die yet.” Kise held his throat, making choking noises. Koushi burst into giggles.

Kise dropped his dying act eventually, and held up a fist. Koushi made his own, and was about to bump it inti his father’s when Kise unfurled the hand. Paper beat rock.

Kise held up a finger. “Rule number one, don’t cheat on games like I do.” He broke out into a grin as Koushi turned to look to the direction of the kindergarten gate. “Have fun at school, Koushi.”

Koushi met his eyes eagerly, all signs of nervousness gone. “I will, Ryouta-‘tou-san,” Kise set him down, and the moment he did, Koushi faced Kuroko and hugged his legs. “I’ll see you later, Tetsu-‘tou-san.” Kuroko patted the back of Koushi’s head, sharing a knowing smile with Kise.

“We’ll come pick you up later.”

They watched as Koushi ran up to join the other children who were gathered at the kindergarten gate, smiles on their faces. Kise’s fingers slipped into Kuroko’s, and Kuroko’s fingers curled into them like they were where they belonged, with finer things that were irreplaceable and were things that he never could have dreamed of having, once upon a time.

Looking at Kise, he thought, that he wouldn’t trade this for the world, and that every second seemed to matter and fill him with something that was above the fear.

Kise was watching one of the other parents sending off their child, a small girl with brown hair and cherub cheeks. “I’m happy that we are where we are now, Tetsuyacchi.” He said, “And I’m really glad that you’re a part of my life.”

Kuroko tiptoed slightly and pressed a kiss onto Kise’s lips, cherry blossom petals on his hair. “Ryouta-kun says the cheesiest things.”

He didn’t know what the future would entail, but he was glad that he had these two people to spend it with. Else, perhaps he may never have let the thought that he could take the horizon alone enter his mind, not one bit. He closed his eyes.

 _Please hold out, for just a little while longer._    

**Author's Note:**

> uniqlo pls pay me I can see my empty future  
> the kikuro fandom has been dead for a while but never too late to pay tribute to this lovely pairing uvu  
> To those wondering, Kuroko has atrial fibrillation. That's why the pacemaker is mentioned.  
> Thank you for reading! <3


End file.
